The Lone Warrior
by The Ebyam
Summary: Suki makes an unlikely friend while inside the Boling Rock. Short summary for a realitively short story.
1. Chapter 1

"_...I hope to contact you again soon..."_

The Kioshi warrior frantically scrawled on the paper as she heard footsteps approaching.

"_...Love, Suki"_

She rolled up the paper and slid it inside the tube strapped to the back of a messenger hawk perched nearby, quickly whispering some instructions into its ear. She then sealed the tube and watched the bird fly out the window, through the cloud of steam, and out of sight. The footsteps got louder, and Suki quickly ducked under the table she had been writing on as the heavy steel door creaked open. As they entered, she caught the end of his conversation.

"...Chit Sang in the cooler again? Ha! That figures! What's he done this time?"

Suki tried to settle her breathing, but the knowledge that she might be caught at any second was making her heart pound in her chest.

"You can tell me the rest of the story later, I have to write this letter to my wife or she'll kill me!"

Suki heard a muffled reply from the other side of the door and then a loud clanging noise as it shut. She realized now that she was trapped in the room with the man until he left. He stood at the desk and she heard him writing right above her head. She was holding her legs and was curled up in a ball, hoping that she would avoid detection. Suddenly, the man dropped his pen and it rolled under the desk, finally stopping after hitting Suki's foot. She squeezed her eyes shut and readied herself to be discovered.

Four days earlier, Suki had been mopping the floors with several other prisoners. She always heard people talking about escape plans, but of course they never went through with it. The Warden said it all the time: no one had ever escaped from the Boiling Rock. Besides, where would someone go after getting out of the prison? They couldn't simply swim across the lake. All the prisoners agreed that it was impossible. Except for Suki. She knew that it wasn't about breaking out, it was about someone else breaking in.

She had been working on plans to contact Sokka ever since she was imprisoned, but every idea she thought of always resulted in one result in her mind: failure. There had to be a way to contact him. The prison must have some contact with the outside world.

After finishing her mopping, she was heading back to her cell when she overheard a group of guards talking.

"...so I'll be sending my daughter a hawk to deliver her birthday present." a male guard said.

"That's sweet." a female one replied. "What'd you get her?"

"Just a jade bracelet imported from Ba Sing Se."

Suki had heard that they used hawks to deliver messages, and that was all she cared about. She finally had a way to contact Sokka! Now all she needed to know was where these messenger hawks were kept. She waited until the group of guards disbanded, than followed the male guard down several hallways and past the cooler. Every time she saw another guard, she'd quickly duck into the shadows. Fortunately, it was near noontime, and most of the guards were taking their breaks.

Finally, they reached a long spiral staircase that lead up a stone tower to a large room. Suki watched the guard pull a ring of keys off his belt and filed through them until he reached the one he wanted. He used it to open the heavy metal door, than shut it behind him. Suki pumped her fist in victory and headed back to her cell as quietly as she could.

Author's Note: This chapter's definitely going to be the shortest, but the whole story will probably only be a couple chapters long. I'm also planning on having this story intersect with my other Avatar fanfic...so keep an eye out for that.


	2. Chapter 2

Suki was able to put her plan into action the very next day. When all the cells were unlocked to allow the prisoners into the courtyard, the kioshi warrior stayed towards the back of the crowd. Unfortunately, four guards were right behind her, keeping them moving. Suki needed a distraction.

She worked her way back to the center of the crowd and pushed a small man into a large, muscled one with scars all over his body. The larger one turned and growled, grabbing the other man and tossing him out of the crowd. The prisoners cheered, and just as Suki planned, a riot broke out. Every prisoner started punching and kicking and shoving each other. One of them grabbed Suki's arm.

"Where do you think you're going little girl?"

He smiled, showing that most of his teeth were missing. Suki spun around and reversed the man's grip, jumping behind his back.

"I don't like to be touched." she whispered in the man's ear.

She then kicked him in the center of the back, knocking him into the rampaging horde of prisoners. Then she noticed a guard grappling with the scarred man who had started the riot. Another two guards had leapt onto the man's back. While they were distracted, Suki carefully plucked the key ring from the guards belt. She continued to dodge prisoners and guards alike until she reached the outside of the group stopping to breath a sigh of relief and took off running down the hall.

She wandered down several hallways, always dodging guards running by to help stop the riot, before she realized that she was lost. She had no idea how to get back to the hawk coop. She was about to give up hope when she saw the familiar tower at the end of a long stone hallway. She climbed the spiral stairs until she reached the heavy steel door at the top. After trying five different keys, she finally found the one that fit the lock, and she pushed the door open and shut it carefully behind her.

The room was dark, lit only by a couple lanterns on the walls. After taking a moment to adjust to the darkness, Suki clapped her hands to her mouth. This definitely wasn't the hawk coop. There was lavish furniture everywhere, and ornate banners hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room was an enormous bed that seemed to be made of red velvet.

Her curiosity piqued, Suki decided to look around. There was a single window to the right side of the bed that looked out upon the prison. She could see far from out here, even spotting the outer wall of the prison beyond the steam clouds. Across from the bed was a single wooden door that was shut tight. Looking for something she could use to alert Sokka, she noticed a suit of red armor hanging on the wall. It was different from the armor the guards wore, yet similar.

"This is pretty nice. I wouldn't mind a suit of armor like this." she said quietly to herself.

She picked up a small blue box on a desk and opened it, revealing a headband with a metal fire nation insignia on it. After observing it for a moment, her eyes widened with shock when she realized where she was. She heard something from the other side of the wooden door and she quickly closed the box and threw it on a table nearby, climbing into a nearby bureau and shutting the doors, leaving only a small crack open.

The door opened, and a steam cloud emerged.

"It must be some sort of sauna." Suki thought. "I don't know why he'd need a sauna in his room after working all day in one."

After the steam cleared, Suki saw the warden, dressed only in a red robe, step out. He stretched and walked over to his armor. He undid the tie on his robe and Suki quickly shut bureau doors so she would see him dress.

She waited several minutes, than opened the door just as he walked past it. Suki held her breath as he stood next to her hiding spot for several seconds, than moved on to the desk where she had placed his headband. He removed it from the box and placed it on his head, looking at himself in a wall mounted mirror as he did.

After what seemed like ages, he finally walked away from the mirror and headed for the door.

"Okay, I'll just wait a couple minutes after he leaves, than I'll get out of her. I can find the coop on another day."

The warden opened the door and was about to leave when he stopped, staring at something.

"What is he looking at?" Suki wondered.

Then she had a realization. She felt around her prison uniform, than gulped. The warden reached down and withdrew a ring of keys from the keyhole, examining them. He turned around and scanned the room, stopping his eyes on the bureau just a second longer than anything else. When he seemed satisfied, he tossed the keys up in the air, catching them and shutting the door behind him.

Suki was relieved. After waiting what she thought was a good amount of time, she exited her hiding spot and peeked out the door. When she was sure she was alone, she went down the stairs and ran once she got to the hallway.

She reached her cell with perfect timing, as the other prisoners were returning. It seems the guards had only recently broken up the riot. She saw several prisoners being dragged away by the guards, probably to the cooler. Suki was satisfied with herself, but knew that the next time she attempted to contact Sokka, she would succeed.

As the prisoners were being dragged away, the warden interceded.

"Where are you bringing these prisoners?" he asked.

"To the cooler sir. They firebended during the riot." one guard replied.

"Put them back in their cells."

Everyone looked shocked.

"Sir?"

"We have more important matters to attend to."

The guards nodded and took the four prisoners back to the wall of cells. The warden grabbed one guard and held him back.

"Someone broke into my private chambers today. They used a guards keys to do it."

"That's terrible sir. It probably happened during the riot. One of the prisoners may have gotten away-"

"Or..." the warden interrupted. "A guard with a grudge did it himself."

He pulled the keys from his belt and held them in front of the guard.

"Missing something?"

The guard stopped and frisked himself, realizing that his keys weren't attached to their ring.

"Um...I might have dropped them in the chaos-"

The warden snapped his fingers and two large guards came up and grabbed the man.

"No please sir! It wasn't me I swear it!"

"You were mad at me because I refused to let you take a holiday."

"It was my daughter's birthday sir! I was only asking for one day!"

"Enough! Guards, take this traitor to a questioning room. I'll be in for him later."

The large men nodded and took him away.

"No! Please! NOOOOOO!"

The warden smirked and walked away as the screams of the guard echoed throughout the prison.


	3. Chapter 3

Suki heard the whole thing unfold with the guard, and she felt terrible. She knew that the guards were usually pretty cruel to the prisoners, but this guard only wanted to see his daughter. She was the one who had stolen his keys and left them where the warden could find them. She knew what she had to do: she had to save the guard.

That night, Suki set her plan into action. She stood up in her cell and jogged in place for a couple of minutes to get herself sweating. Than she laid on the floor and started groaning as loudly as she could. Soon, a passing guard stopped at her cell and peered in.

"What's going on here?" the female guard asked.

"I think I have a fever of some kind." Suki said weakly.

The guard rolled her eyes and unlocked the cell door, walking over to her and crouching down. She touched her forehead.

"Wow, you're burning up! Alright we'll get you to the infirmary, maybe get you looked at by the doctors."

"Thank you." Suki groaned.

The guard left for a moment, than came back with a male guard.

"Help me take this prisoner to the infirmary."

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. I don't want to touch her any longer than I have to. Let's just get this over with."

The guards lifted Suki and she put an arm over each of their shoulders as they helped her hobble away.

After she was looked at by a prison doctor, she was allowed to stay the night in the infirmary. After the doctor left, she climbed out of bed and snuck past the one guard blocking the infirmary.

She walked for a while before realizing that she had no idea where she was going.

"How did I not think this far ahead! This prison must be getting to me!"

She stopped when she heard a cry of pain echoing through the corridor to her left. She followed the voice until she reached one cell that had a light streaming through the bars. She stopped right next to the door and listened in on the warden.

"Alright fine Shen, I'll believe that you didn't break into my quarters. If you didn't, than who did?"

Suki heard the guard's, whose name was Shen apparently, response come out in choked sobs.

"I...don't...know..."

"Wrong answer." the warden replied.

A moment passed, and she heard the familiar sound of a fist coming in contact with a stomach. The guards were beating on the poor man! Suki closed her eyes and tried to put herself someplace else. After several brutal seconds, the beating stopped. Shen coughed, and Suki couldn't imagine what he looked like in there.

"I think we've gotten all we can out of him for now men. Let's leave him to stew in his thoughts for a while."

Suki quickly moved away from the cell and around the corner, and no sooner had she moved, than the warden and the two large guards emerged and walked down the opposite direction. When they rounded the corner, Suki quickly moved to the door, and just as she thought, it wasn't locked.

She opened it and entered the dark room. The warden must have turned out the lantern when he left. Suki could barely make out Shen's form strapped to a chair in the center of the room. The man slowly raised his head.

"Hello?" he mumbled weakly. "Is someone there?"

Suki didn't say a word. She moved next to him and started to un-strap him from the chair, starting with his arms, than finishing on the straps on his legs. Once he was free, she helped him out of the chair and supported him as they walked to the door.

"Thank you whoever you are."

Without thinking, Suki replied:

"No problem."

She instantly realized her mistake and clapped her free hand over her mouth.

"Wait...you're a girl? You're too short to be any female guards I know..."

They exited the room and Suki was about to slip away when Shen grabbed her.

"You're a prisoner."

Suki had hoped that his eyes would be too swollen to recognize her, but she wasn't so lucky. She stopped and turned to face the guard.

"So are you gonna turn me in to the warden now?"

Shen shook his head.

"You saved me. Now I have to do the same for you."

Suki smiled.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it." he replied. "No really, don't mention it. I don't want to be in any more trouble than I already am."

"So what's your plan now?"

"I guess I'll find a place to hide in the prison until I can think of a way to escape."

"I'm so sorry this happened to you."

"Don't apologize. It's not like this is your fault."

Suki stared at the ground for a moment.

"Actually...it kind of is."

"I don't understand."

"I stole your keys and broke into the warden's room."

"Wait, you mean you're the reason I was beaten senseless for three straight hours?"

"Well...yeah."

"I'm not really one to hold a grudge young lady. You can't be more than a couple years older than my daughter, and because of you, I'll be able to see her again. Apology accepted."

They suddenly heard voices coming down the hallway. They exchanged quick glances, than took off in opposite directions. Suki watched Shen round the corner, than, she took off back to the infirmary, just as the warden reached Shen's room. Suki watched the scene unfold from the shadows.

"I came back to give you a choice Shen-"

The warden stopped at the doorway, did a quick scan of the room, than clenched his fists.

"GUARDS!" he shouted.

Moments later, a dozen guards filed in front of the warden, standing in a straight line.

"It seems we have an escaped prisoner. Your former comrade Shen has escaped his cell, and I doubt he did it alone. I want you to search every inch of this prison until he is found, understood?"

The guards nodded, bowed, than took off in different directions. Suki pressed herself against the wall as a couple of them ran by her, than made her way back to her bed in the infirmary.


	4. Chapter 4

Two more days passed, and Suki was getting impatient. She was back in her cell after her "illness" had passed, and ever since she had helped Shen escape his torture, the guards had been scouring the prison for him. The kioshi warrior was sitting in her cell, thinking of a way to get to the hawk coop, when she heard the sound of cell doors opening.

She went to the door of her cell and peered out through the top bars. The cells on the east side were all being opened, while the cells on her side remained closed. As a guard passed by, Suki called out to him.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"After the riot a couple days ago, the warden decided to let out the prisoners in separate groups." he replied.

Suki sighed and sat back down on her bed.

"Nothing to do now but wait." she said to herself.

After about two hours, her door finally opened. She left her cell and joined the rest of the prisoners being led like cattle out into the yard. It looked like there was almost as many guards as there were prisoners now.

"If I could just slip away somehow, there would be hardly any guards in the halls!"

Once they got outside however, Suki was stumped. There were guards blocking every exit and patrolling the grounds, watching for any sign of riot behavior. The warden himself was standing on the balcony at the top of the prison. Suddenly, there was an explosion behind her. She looked to see people scattered near a scorch mark on the ground. In the center, was the same muscular man who she had started the riot with several days earlier. He was standing in a firebending stance, moving his head to observe the guards circling him.

"Alright Chit Sang, put your hands up!" one of them yelled. "We have you surrounded! If you firebend again, you'll spend the rest of the day in the cooler!"

"Do your worst!" the man shouted back.

"Alright men, attack!"

Half a dozen guards charged Chit Sang, while others stayed back, shooting fireballs at him. He managed to dodge the fireballs, and kicked one guard back into two others. One grabbed his arm, and he flung the scrawny guard into a crowd of prisoners.

Suki watched for a couple seconds before realizing the opportunity she had. As more guards stepped away from their posts to attack Chit Sang, other prisoners joined in the fray as well. Soon, there were fireballs flying through there air. Suki walked over to an unconscious guard and took the key ring from his belt than, looking to make sure no one was watching, snuck into the prison.

This time, she went the opposite direction she had gone before, heading down nearly identical hallways until she finally reached the spiral tower she had been looking for. She climbed the stairs until she reached the door and fished through the keys until she found the right one that fit the lock. She opened the door and removed the key from the lock, shutting the door behind her.

"This looks like a hawk coop to me." she said to herself.

There were at least two dozen hawks in the room, all with a tube tied to their backs to deliver messages. In the corner was a small wooden table with a stack of papers and a metal pen and a small ink well. Suki took a piece of paper off the top of the stack, dipped the pen, and began to write.

She had almost filled an entire page when she heard the footsteps approaching. She panicked and started writing as fast as her hand would go.

"_...Love, Suki."_

She rolled up the paper and slid it inside the tube strapped to the back of a messenger hawk perched nearby, quickly whispering some instructions into its ear. She then sealed the tube and watched the bird fly out the window, through the cloud of steam, and out of sight.

The footsteps got louder, and Suki quickly ducked under the table she had been writing on as the heavy steel door creaked open. As they entered, she caught the end of his conversation.

"...Chit Sang in the cooler again? Ha! That figures! What's he done this time?"

Suki tried to settle her breathing, but the knowledge that she might be caught at any second was making her heart pound in her chest.

"You can tell me the rest of the story later, I have to write this letter to my wife or she'll kill me!"

Suki heard a muffled reply from the other side of the door and then a loud clanging noise as it shut. She realized now that she was trapped in the room with the man until he left. He stood at the desk and she heard him writing right above her head. She was holding her legs and was curled up in a ball, hoping that she would avoid detection. Suddenly, the man dropped his pen and it rolled under the desk, finally stopping after hitting Suki's foot. She squeezed her eyes shut and readied herself to be discovered.

As the man bent down, the door swung open again, and another man entered. The guard stood up to look at the man, but after a few punches, he collapsed to the ground. Suki remained in a ball until the man who was still standing looked under the table. She was shocked to see his face. His left eye was swollen, there were cuts and bruises all over, and it looked like he had old bloodstains on his cheeks as well. Then she remembered the guard she had rescued. He offered her his hand and helped her out from under the table.

"Thank you Shen." Suki said. "

"I guess now we're even." Shen replied.

He tried to smile, but winced at the effort, rubbing his jaw.

"Still sore?"

"Oh yeah. If I could see the doctor I'd be fine, but I know that she'd turn me in in a heartbeat."

"I wish I could help you more-"

Than, Suki had a thought.

"This might sound crazy, but I have a friend whose a pretty good healer. She could take a look at you once we're out of here."

Shen laughed, then winced again.

"Ow! I have to stop doing that!" he said, shaking his head. "Anyways, you say that like it's so easy to escape from the boiling rock. You're a prisoner, and I'm a traitorous guard."

"Sorry again about that." Suki said with a blush.

"Don't worry about it. I was going to quit soon anyways."

"I just sent a letter to my boyfriend-"

Suki stopped when she said that and smiled, thinking about Sokka and the last time she had seen him...when they kissed at the Serpent's Pass...

"Miss?" Shen was waving his hand in front of Suki's face and she snapped out of her trance.

"Sorry about that. Like I was saying, I just sent a letter to him and when he gets it, he'll hopefully come rescue me! I'm sure I can convince him to take you along with us too."

Shen shook his head.

"That's a nice thought young lady, but it's just not possible. How would he even get here?"

"Well he could ride in on-"

Suki almost said Appa, but than remembered that she was talking to a person from the fire nation.

"He'll get in, trust me!"

Shen sighed.

"How can I trust you when I don't even know your name?" he asked.

"Suki, my name is Suki." she said with a smile.

"That's a lovely name miss. I'll trust you, and I'll try to keep in touch. I hope your boyfriend knows what he's doing."

The guard was starting to stir, so Suki threw the key ring on his chest and her and Shen left the coop.

Authors Note: Yeah I know I pretty much copy and pasted part of chapter 1 in this chapter. I couldn't think of any other way to say it so I just...well...re-said it. The story's almost over, and the last chapters will intersect with my next Avatar story. Reviews appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

Five days had passed since Suki had sent the hawk, but she still hadn't heard anything from Sokka. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't given him any way to reach her. It's not like he could simply return the hawk with a note addressed to a prisoner. She had resumed her daily life as a prisoner and was slowly losing hope that help would ever come.

She was once again mopping the halls when a panicked guard hurried around the corner to speak to one of the guard captains that was watching the prisoners. He whispered something in his ear and the captain looked shocked. He muttered something to the guard, than ran off. The remaining guards gathered up the prisoners and led them back into their cells. When her cell door shut, Suki ran to the door and peered out through the slot in the top.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"That's none of your business prisoner! Don't make me come in that cell and show you some respect!" the guard shouted in reply.

"I'd show you respect." Suki muttered.

"What was that?"

"You heard me."

"That's it. It's time someone showed you some manners, 'warrior'."

The guard went back to the cell and unlocked the door, walking in and shutting it behind him. Suki backed into a wall as the guard got closer.

"What's the matter little girl? Scared I might hurt you?"

"Not exactly."

Suki grabbed her pillow and swung it across the guards face, causing him to stumble back enough for her to jump into the air and kick him full force in the chest. The guard gasped and hit the wall, his helmet flying off and rattling on the floor. He groaned and looked up at her. Suki smiled at him.

"Who's the little girl now?" she said, and punched him square in the face.

With a bloody nose, the guard slumped to the floor, and Suki cracked her knuckles in satisfaction.

"I haven't gotten to do anything like that in way too long." she said.

She was about to leave her cell to sneak around and find out what was going on, when she got a better idea. The guard was still unconscious, so she removed his armor and wore it herself. Thankfully, the guard had a lighter build, or it would have been much to big for her. She took the guards keys and hooked them to her new belt. For the final touch, she put the guard in her bed and pulled the blankets up over his head.

"That should throw them off for a while at least."

After leaving her cell, it wasn't long before she saw Shen lurking in the shadows near a group of guards. She grabbed his shoulder and he quickly spun around and grabbed her arm. Suki put up the visor on her helmet to show her face to him and he released her. She crouched down next to him and whispered in his ear.

"What's going on?"

"I can't tell." he replied in a hush. "I can't hear anything from here. You on the other hand..."

Suki suddenly remembered her getup and nodded, striding into the group of guards. There must have been at least a dozen and a half guards there, all surrounding a single guard captain.

"Listen up people, there's been a break-in. We have a breach in one of the outer walls and it appears to be a team of two. We have our orders straight from the Warden to dispose of the threat any way possible. We're heading for the north wall, move!"

The group started moving in a pack down the hallway right past Shen's hiding spot and Suki held her breath as they passed by. Thankfully, he was gone, and Suki fell to the back of the group and slipped out. She quietly called Shen's name and after a few moments, he emerged from a nearby crate.

"You moved just in time! Did you hear what's going on? Someone broke into the prison! I think it might be the guy I told you about!"

"Well if you're right, I'm sorry I doubted you Suki. I found something in here that will help me greatly."

He reached into the crate and pulled out a guard uniform matching Suki's. Once he was dressed, the two headed towards the north wall, but ran into a large, bulky prisoner.

"I heard your conversation you two. So, you're that traitorous guard." he said, motioning to Shen.

Shen and Suki braced themselves for a fight, but the man extended his hand.

"I'm Chit Sang. Pleased you meet you."

Puzzled, Shen took his hand a shook it.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to turn you two in. I want to escape with you."

"Why would we let you risk our whole plan for you?" Suki asked.

"Because if you don't, I'll turn you in to the warden."

Shen and Suki exchanged glances, than turned back to Chit Sang.

"Fine, you can come with us." Suki said finally. "But if you jeopardize our plan once, you're out. Got it?"

Chit Sang nodded.

"Good." Shen said. "See if there's a guard uniform in that crate that will fit you."

Once the three of them were ready, they head to the north wall, and when they got there, they saw the destruction that had been caused. There were holes in the floor and ceiling, but that was nothing compared to the enormous hole that had been made in the outer wall.

"Who could have done this?" Shen asked.

"Toph." Suki replied with a smile.

"Who?" Chit Sang asked.

"I'll tell you later, come on!"

They ran past the unconscious bodies of various guards and went further down the hall. Eventually, they heard a crashing noise up ahead, and Suki bolted ahead of the others.

"Hey wait up!" Shen called. "Suki stop!"

A foot extended from a nearby doorway and Suki stumbled to the floor, her helmet rolling away. From the doorway, stepped the warden, with a wicked smile on his face.

"So, I have two escaping prisoners and a traitorous guard caught all at once. This is a good day for me."

He picked up Suki by the front of her armor and lifted her up to eye level.

"You're going to be locked away for a long time little girl."

Shen and Chit Sang were about to step in and help her when Suki grabbed the Warden's wrist and twisted. He shouted and released her, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she swept them under his legs, sending him crashing to the ground.

"You little-" The Warden started to insult Suki, but didn't get the chance to finish as Chit Sang's helmet came in contact with the side of his head, knocking him out.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time." he said as he put his helmet back on.

Suki urged the others on down the hallway. When they got to the prison yard, it was chaos. There were prisoners grappling with guards, trying for a way to escape. Suki looked through the crowd, but couldn't see any sign of Sokka or Toph. That's when a large earth pillar sent a group of men flying out of the crowd.

"They're over there!" she shouted.

As they ran, guards closed in in a circle around them.

"What are you doing?" Suki exclaimed. "We have to help reclaim the prisoners!"

One of the guards in the circle around them was the captain from earlier. He stepped out of the circle and approached the trio.

"That would be fine, if you were really guards. You're wearing the uniforms of guards who retired last week, and as for you," he pointed to Suki. "Lee reported his uniform stolen half an hour ago."

Suki gulped, but Chit Sang threw off his helmet and shot a ball of fire through the circle, blasting several guards away.

"Get out of here you two, I'll hold them off!" he cried.

"But Chit Sang-" Suki started.

"Go!"

After the two ran past the circle, Chit Sang turned to face his attackers.

"Doesn't this seem familiar."

With that, he continued to shoot fire at the guards. Shen and Suki ran through the crowd, and Suki finally made out Sokka's voice in the uproar calling her name. A tear ran down her face and she was about to follow his voice when Shen grabbed her arm.

"Shen, what are you doing? We're almost out of here!"

"Oh no we're not. You took away my job, my honor! And you're gonna get it back for me. When I tell the warden about you being the one to steal my keys, start several riots, and send that letter to your little boyfriend, I'll be re-instated on the spot! I'll probably get some nice benefits too."

"That's not gonna happen!" Suki exclaimed as she went to punch Shen.

He caught her fist and squeezed it, causing her to fall to her knees in pain.

"Your little tricks won't work on me little Kioshi Warrior."

Suki couldn't believe it. She had come so far and was almost out of the prison, and was going to be stopped by someone she thought was a friend. No, she wasn't going to give up that easily. She headbutted Shen in the stomach, making him release her. He stumbled back and leaned down to pull a sword from one of the guards lying on the ground. Suki did the same. They exchanged blows, their swords glancing off one another, sparks flying each time they made contact.

"I was going to take you out of here with me Shen! We were going to take you to your daughter!"

"My daughter understands her father's work. I miss her, but I have to provide for her future!"

Taking advantage of his distraction, Suki sliced his right arm, making him drop his sword with a clatter. Shen put up his hands and Suki put the blade of her sword to his throat.

"You make me sick." she said with a scowl.

"What are you going to do, kill me? I don't think you have it in you Suki." Shen smirked, and Suki dropped her sword next to his. "See? I knew you didn't have what it takes to-"

Suki suddenly turned and punched him in the face, making him fall backwards onto the ground. She shook her hand around afterwords.

"You know, it really hurts your hand to punch someone in the face."

She turned and ran back into the crowd, leaving Shen, battered and angry, on the ground. After weeks of hoping and dreaming, she finally saw Sokka, fighting off three guards with his sword. He kicked one in the leg, knocking him to the floor. Another he hit in the helmet with his sword. The final one he punched in the jaw and tackled to the ground.

"Sokka!" she called.

Sokka turned to face her.

"Suki!" he replied.

They ran at each other and Suki jumped into his arms.

"You broke into the highest security prison in the Fire Nation for me?" she said with tears in her eyes.

"I would do anything for you Suki. I'm sorry I couldn't get to to you earlier I just didn't know where youmph-"

Suki cut off the water tribe warrior with a kiss. After a few seconds, they broke off.

"Let's get out of here." she said with a smile.

Sokka had a dazed look on his face and shook his head.

"Y-yeah. Let's go. Toph, come on! I found Suki!"

Toph suddenly burst out of the crowd on a pillar and landed next to them.

"Great job! Now how are we getting out of here?" she said.

Sokka was about to reply when he realized he didn't have an answer.

"You can't tell me you didn't think this far ahead Sokka." Suki said.

"Well, I kinda rushed to get here. All I could think about was rescuing you."

They looked into each others eyes until Toph stepped in between them.

"You two can love each other once we're out of here!"

She pulled a bison shaped whistle from her pocket and blew into it as hard as she could.

"Where did you get that?" Sokka asked.

"I'll tell you later." the blind girl replied as Appa crashed down into the group. He smashed his tail down, sending out an air shockwave that sent everyone around them flying.

"Quick, get on!" Sokka yelled as he helped the girls into the saddle.

The warden suddenly ran out of the prison brandishing a spear.

"No one escapes my prison!" he screamed as he hurled the spear.

It seemed like it was happening in slow-motion. The spear moved towards the three of them, wobbling in the air until it came in contact with its target, in this case, Toph's back. The earthbender gasped a little as she collapsed into the saddle.

"Toph, no!" Sokka shouted.

He pulled the spear, which had gone so deep that the tip had come out of the front of her shirt.

"Appa, yip yip!" Suki shouted.

The bison lifted off the ground and took off into the skies. The whole time they were taking off, Sokka was cradling as her shirt was slowly turned from green to red.

"Toph, speak to me..." Sokka said, wiping his eyes.

"Sokka...everything's going dark..." she replied weakly.

Sokka chuckled a little bit and Toph smiled up at him.

"It's okay guys, I'm fine."

Toph tried to sit up, but the intense pain in her back cause her to fall back down.

"You've got to conserve your energy Toph." Suki said as she held the young girl's hand.

Toph coughed and laughed weakly again.

"Really you guys, I'll be fine. I just need to...rest for a little while..."

She laid back and closed her eyes and Sokka let her go, crawling over to Appa's reins.

"Sokka, we need to find her help."

"I know." Sokka said, trying to blink away tears that wouldn't stop coming. "And I know where we can get it."

Sokka pulled the bison's reins, swerving him to the left and towards the forest.

**Author's Note: This last chapter was a lot more violent than I had originally intended. I changed the rating, because someone getting stabbed in the back...in more ways than one...is not very kid friendly. This is the end of this story, but it continues in my other fic, From Dreams to Reality Part II. Yeah I know it's kinda mean to make you read multiple stories just to get the full story, but that's how I roll. Leave some comments for me and let me know what you thought!**


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